Trump takes credit for reducing cancer deaths after proposing cuts to cancer prevention

Donald Trump on Thursday appeared to take credit for a drop in the cancer death rate in the United States — despite the fact that his administration has proposed cuts that would negatively impact Americans’ health.

“U.S. Cancer Death Rate Lowest In Recorded History! A lot of good news coming out of this Administration,” Trump tweeted Thursday morning.

However, the decline in the cancer death rate has nothing to do with Trump.

Cancer death rates have been steadily declining for decades, as science has helped advance treatment for a variety of cancers.

In 2019, experts attributed the decline in cancer deaths to breakthroughs in treatment for cancers of the lung and skin.

Not to mention, Trump has proposed cuts to health insurance that would put access to care out of reach for millions of Americans.

His 2020 budget also proposed a massive cut to the National Cancer Institute, the government’s “principal agency for cancer research and training,” which is “the largest funder of cancer research in the world,” according to the institute’s website.

Of course, this isn’t the first time Trump took credit for something that he had no business taking credit for.

For example, he took credit for the commercial airline industry’s safest year ever in 2017, with zero fatalities across the globe. That record didn’t last long, after problems with Boeing’s 737-Max led to two deadly plane crashes that have since grounded the entire fleet of 737-Max planes.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.